Elves, dwarves, orcs and Shinobi!
by deidei66
Summary: SLASH Naruto and LotR xover. Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara are sent on a highly unusual mission... Destination Middle Earth! Neji has to deal with a strange new world, and what's this with Sasuke acting weird lately? NejixSasuke and possible Nejixother
1. Chapter 1 An Awkward Morning

_This story is a cross over between Naruto and Lord of the Rings. It is __purely fan fiction and I do no own any of the characters and any recognisable cannon events. _

_**Important**__** notes from the author**_

_This fan fiction will contain SLASH (don't they all nowadays lol)._

_This is my first time letting others read my writing so be nice! I know crossing Naruto and LotR is a bit weird but I couldn't resist sticking a few of my favourite Naruto characters into Middle Earth. Think of it as an experiment of sorts, lol._

_T__his story will be told mostly if not all from Neji Hyuuga's third person point of view, just because I absolutely adore that guy. The time is set a few years after what we've seen so far in Shippuden. I'm might twist the cannon story and characters a little bit so please don't point out technicalities that are incorrect with my fanfic. _

_Also__, Gaara is not the Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand. I had to change this because it would seem a bit improbable for Gaara to accept a mission to go gallivanting around Middle Earth if he had the fate of an entire village resting on his shoulders. _

_**Any constructive criticism on how I write is more than welcome, but please don't be mean, I'm kind of sensitive. **_

**Chapter 1**** – An Awkward Morning**

A pair of white eyes opened blearily to greet the first few rays of the rising sun streaming in through his bedroom window. Neji remained lying in bed for a few moments, his mind still in the slow process of starting up for the new day. Something about his current situation was undoubtedly unfamiliar, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He knew it wasn't the room he occupied; the lavish but tastefully decorated bedroom of the Hyuuga Estate that he resided in was as familiar to him as his own two hands. The source of this unfamiliarity was something that was _in _the room with him, or more specifically, on his bed.

Becoming more and more conscious, Neji realised that he was feeling usually warm for an early morning deep into autumn. In fact, his entire back was covered in something, _alive _and _moving_. Furthermore, a muscular arm was draped over his stomach in a hold that was almost possessive in its tightness. Normally, when he woke in the close proximity of someone he did not expect or was unfamiliar with, Neji's ninja training would kick in and that unknown someone would find themselves getting quite intimate with the kunai under his pillow. After all, he didn't become a jounin and one of the best ANBU in Konoha on good luck alone. The fact that his instincts didn't feel the need to do anything of the sort was enough to tell Neji that his current situation wasn't threatening his wellbeing.

Forcibly clearing his head of the last dredges of sleep, Neji turned his head to be greeted by the unexpected sight of blue black bangs. Underneath it was none other than the peacefully sleeping face of Uchiha Sasuke. It wasn't the fact that he had slept with the Uchiha that surprised him, it was that Sasuke was still in his bed the next morning and, although he'd never use these particular words in front of the Uchiha for fear of violent retribution, _cuddling up to him_. Somehow, he never thought Sasuke to be the cuddling type.

Neji had been sleeping with Sasuke for almost a month now. Note that the words used were 'sleeping with', and not 'going out'. Neither he nor the Uchiha were looking for a lovey dovey relationship, meeting up a few nights a week was merely a stress reliever, something both ANBU needed. Girls were too clingy and emotional and Sasuke came in a no strings attached, attractive package, so it wasn't too hard of a choice to make.

Neji had heard that the Uchiha, after deeming that he had learnt all he could from Orochimaru, double crossed and murdered his teacher before the Sannin could take over his body. Sasuke's return had been wholly accredited to Naruto's persistence. Neji couldn't imagine what words Naruto would have spoken to the stoic Uchiha to persuade him to come back to the village he had forsaken, but Naruto's always had the uncanny ability of being able to persuade people to change their ways. Neji himself had been subjected to that during the Chuunin exams. Catalysed by Naruto's influence, the genius of the Hyuuga Clan found himself turning from an arrogant and cold bastard to a nicer and mellower bastard. Granted, he still wasn't all sunshine and lollypops, but according to his friends, he was now much more approachable and easier to get along with.

While mentally still the same egotistical ass that he always was, physically, Sasuke had changed much over the years. He had long ago shed the scrawny, early teen appearance he had previously. The Uchiha's height had shot up like you wouldn't believe and his muscles weren't left behind. Neji often found himself envying the strong muscles that handled him around so easily during their romps in bed. While his friends and comrades around him had grown taller and stronger over the years, Neji was dismayed to find that now, at nineteen years old; he retained the same slender figure he possessed in his early teens. Heck, even Naruto, the former midget of the Konoha Gennin, had managed to surpass him in height.

Sasuke gave a small mumble in his sleep, and the arm he wrapped around Neji's waist tightened, snapping Neji's attention out of his little reverie and onto his bed mate. 'Last night had been pretty wild', Neji thought, a slight smirk twisting his lips, '_Uchiha was probably too worn out to leave after sex like he always did_.' Neji himself had felt pretty tired from last night and had fallen dead asleep straight away after the deed was done. He knew without yet moving that sitting down would cause more that a little discomfort for him later.

Gently prying Sasuke's arm away from him to prevent waking the other man and causing inevitable awkwardness, Neji climbed out of bed and headed towards his bathroom. As soon as he climbed out of the bed however, his well honed ears caught the sound of movement behind him and he turned. Ivory orbs met obsidian ones and the predicted awkwardness ensued.

Sasuke was sitting up on the bed, with his usual "no expression" expression on his face, as usual giving no clue to what was going on in his head. Neji doubted he would be able to read Sasuke even with his Byakugan. The blanket that they had shared from last night had slid off his bare torso and now lay tantalisingly low on Sasuke's hips. Neji snapped his own eyes snapped away from the other's gaze and noticed that he himself was stark naked. All of a sudden he felt uncharacteristically embarrassed. Being naked and under the Uchiha's scrutinising gaze felt a lot different in the morning than it did last night. He quickly turned away towards the direction of the bathroom before the Sasuke could catch him blushing. All previous interaction he had with Uchiha had always been when they were both caught in the heat of moment from the lust they felt for one another. Neji, famed amongst his fellow shinobi for always being in control, found himself not knowing how to act the morning after.

"Morning," said Neji, as he riffled through his drawn to find a fresh bath towel. To his satisfaction, his voice was calm and even, betraying none of the hesitancy he felt. He heard an answering grunt from Sasuke. Finding his towel, Neji was just about to turn into the bathroom when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist and he was pulled back into a strong chest. Damn that Uchiha can move fast, Neji hadn't heard a thing that warned him of the other's approach. Neji muffled a small moan as lips, tongue and teeth attacked the sensitive spot on his neck. He felt something unmistakably hard digging into the small of his back and grinded against it, eliciting a quiet groan that made him smirk.

"Let me join you," a husky voice whispered in his ear, its tone more demanding than inquisitive.

"Sure," Neji replied, turning back to face Sasuke with a coy smile on his lips, now this was something more familiar. All traces of awkwardness had now disappeared, and he was glad.

**A/N: **So there it is, the first chapter. To tell you the truth I really don't have a definite idea of where this story is going… They're going to end up in Middle Earth, fight a few orcs, yadda yadda yadda... and that's probably when the brain freeze will kick in. But that's still a good while off yet so I'll worry about that when it gets here lol.

Well that's it for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!

**Deep movie trailer voice:** What new and exciting adventures will our heroes face? Tune in to the next instalment of "Orcs, elves and… shinobi?!!" to find out. (lol)


	2. Chapter 2 Briefing

**Chapter 2 – Briefing**

Neji was still in the process of brushing out his long ebony locks in the bathroom when he heard a series of loud thumps on his bedroom door. His brow creasing as he puzzled over who would pay him a visit so early in the morning, Neji walked back into his bedroom. At the same time, an all too familiar, spiky blond head poked itself through the newly open door.

Cerulean blue eyes widened as it first fixed itself on Neji, still wet and naked except for the towel around his waist, then on Sasuke, who was in a similar state of undress, and then onto Neji's messy bed. Neji could nearly hear the gears working noisily in Naruto's head as he processed the visual information.

Neji sighed and mentally steeled himself for the oncoming confrontation.

"What are you guys doing? Sasuke, what are you doing at Neji's so early in the…"

Neji silently counted to five in his head and closed his eyes as he waited for Naruto to slowly process the situation.

"Oh my God…" Neji's eyes opened in surprise. That was a much milder reaction than he had anticipated. Maybe Naruto had grown up some in mental maturity over the past five years after all.

"That's so GROSS! Ewwww! I can't believe you guys are SLEEPING TOGETHER!"

Then again, that was probably too much to hope for. Neji should have known better, Naruto will always be Naruto. Neji resigned himself to the fact that Naruto is and always will be just an immature kid at heart. The Hyuuga had formed a pretty close friendship with the blond these last few years, so he was more exasperated than angry at Naruto's reaction. Neji was just glad that he was the only one who had a bedroom in the east wing of the Estate, he didn't need someone like Hiashi to overhear details about his private life. No doubt his uncle would like to have a few choice words with him about "interloping with that treacherous Uchiha".

"Did you want something _dobe_? Otherwise, piss off." There goes Sasuke, as pleasant as ever.

Naruto still didn't seem to have gotten over his shock. "How, how-?" he spluttered. '_He must have been really surprised if he's not even bothering to trade insults with Sasuke_,' Neji thought to himself.

"Well you see Naruto, first we strip off each other's clothes, or we can each take off our own. Sometimes that way's a lot easier and a lot faster, which is good since that gives us more time to-" explained Neji in a condescending tone, trying to keep the smirk off his face. The Kyuubi was turning a bright shade of red to rival that of a tomato's. Naruto was just so fun to tease. The blond now had his fingers in both of his ears and was mumbling out random nonsense to filter out the sound of Neji's voice.

"Geez Naruto, I've never realised you were such a prude. Do you ever get laid?" asked Sasuke, smirking. He was rewarded by a glare from Naruto, who opened his mouth to retort. Deciding to give his friend a break, Neji spoke up before Sasuke could taunt Naruto even more.

"I believe you had a purpose in barging in here so early in the morning?" Neji asked.

"Oh yeah… um…" In his flustered state, Naruto seemed to have forgotten what he had come for in the first place. "Oh right! Granny Tsunade wants to all three of us, something about an important mission."

"Then get out so I can get changed Naruto," Neji said.

As Naruto turned to leave, Neji heard him mutter, "Yeesh, Neji and Sasuke sleeping together, sourpusses must attract each other or something."

Neji didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused.

Neji arrived at the fifth Hokage's main headquarters shortly after changing into his full ANBU gear of a long sleeved black top, white strapped vest, plated arm guards and black pants. His white porcelain mask was perched at the top of his head, as was allowed when missions aren't in progress or required secrecy. He met the similarly attired Naruto and Sasuke at the entrance of the building and together the three of them made their way up to the missions' room.

As Naruto pushed opened the mission room door, he gave an excited yell and rushed inside. The other two ninja followed in after him and soon discovered the source of his excitement. Standing near the Hokage, was a slightly disheveled looking Sabaku no Gaara, currently caught in a stranglehold by Naruto. Neji smirked slightly to himself; it was quite amusing to see the usually emotionless sand shinobi surprised by an affectionate Naruto. Neji remembered when Naruto had first treated _him _to a hug attack all those years go. Neji, acting on instinct and training, had flipped Naruto over his shoulder in a defensive move, throwing the blond hard onto his butt.

"Gaara! It's so good to see you! How're things at Suna going? What are you doing here? Wait, don't tell me there's any sort of trouble? Is that why you're here? Well, if it is then you can count on me to-"

"Naruto! Show some discipline or I'll demote you back to Chuunin! You're in ANBU now, act like it before I change my mind!" snapped Tsunade, cutting off Naruto's stream of incessant chatter.

That threat seemed to be highly effective. Naruto shut up immediately and joined the other three shinobi in the customary mission receiving formation, standing in a line in front of the Hokage's desk. It was unfair to say that Naruto hadn't changed at all over the years; the blond was at least a little bit more disciplined nowadays and less likely to go on a thoughtless rampage during missions. Neji knew this intimately because Naruto had often been placed under his command since he became Jounin. Though now Naruto had achieved both ANBU and Jounin status, the two of them were theoretically equals.

"Now, the three of you and Gaara will be sent on a special S ranked mission. I've picked the three of you because this is a mission requiring high amounts of skill and intelligence and you guys are the best we can spare. Gaara is going to accompany you on your mission to represent Suna. Now this mission will be something quite different to what you're used to. I take it that you known that the Shinobi countries only make up one continent of many in this world that we live in?" asked Tsunade.

"I've come across mentions of them once or twice in my reading, but there's generally not a lot of mention of them in records or books since it's almost impossible to travel between continents," said Neji.

"Yes, we've had very little contact with them in the past, but recent events have changed that. The continent directly to the south of us is called Middle Earth. Its people are being plagued by a growing evil power named Sauron. A man called Gandalf has put forward a mission, requesting a team of skilled shinobi to aid him in this struggle against Sauron. We have reason to believe that, should Sauron succeed in conquering Middle Earth, he would eventually turn his attention towards neighboring continents. Therefore we have a vested interest in making sure that Sauron is defeated," Tsunade said, throwing each of them a sealed scroll. "That's got more on your mission in detail. I expect you to be packed and back here by nine for deployment. Don't pack too light; this mission will take at least a couple of months. Neji will be leader, and Sasuke is second in command. Any questions?" No one spoke up.

"Well then, ANBU cell 2, your mission is to do whatever your employer requests of you. Meet back here in three hours."

"Hai!"

**A/N:** I know I like to make fun of Naruto sometimes but I do like him. Without him, my entire story would be Neji, Sasuke and Gaara acting "cool" and talking in monosyllables all the time lol.

Thanks to people who reviewed. Nice reviews give me the warm fuzzies!


	3. Chapter 3 A Strange New World

**Chapter 3 – A Whole New World**

**A/N:**Here's Chapter 3, many thanks to all who reviewed! I always have this paranoia that the characters I write are OOC. So please tell me if they are! Thanks.

He was falling…

Falling…

Falling…

Strange lights and images flew past him in a blur, and Neji doubted he would be able to make much sense of them even with his Byakugan. Time passed in a strange manner, he could have been falling for any amount of time between ten seconds or ten hours.

Suddenly, the strange shapes twisted and remolded themselves into a blue sky littered with the occasional fluffy white cloud. But the sky was… under his feet? That was definitely not a good sigh. Neji looked upwards just in time to see a blur of green crashing towards him. Quickly gathering his wits, Neji twisted mid air like a cat so that his feet were now facing the ground. His arms grabbed at a passing tree branch and he flipped nimbly onto it, saving himself from what would have been a very painful fall.

A few seconds later, another figure deftly landed on the branch beside him. Neji turned to give Sasuke an acknowledging nod. Looking around, he spotted Gaara on the ground just below them, standing calmly next to the tree Neji and Sasuke currently occupied. Nothing about the composed redhead showed that he had gone through the same headfirst plummet that Neji had.

So three of them were accounted for, all that's left was…

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" A blur flew towards them at neck breaking speed, emanating a ghastly sounding shriek that made Neji wince. He quickly wrapped one arm around the trunk of the tree and stuck out the other. Neji managed to just grab Naruto by the back of his shirt as the blond fell past him. Naruto's yell ceased, obviously confused as to why he was not yet a flattened mess on the ground below his now dangling feet.

"As hopeless as ever Naruto," said Neji and swung him up to join the two of them on the tree. Naruto turned to give Neji a sheepish grin in thanks.

"I'm never traveling by long distance teleporting jutsu ever again," grumbled Naruto.

Neji, Naruto and Sasuke jumped down to join Gaara on the ground.

"So, this is Middle Earth," said Gaara, looking around at the dense forest that surrounded them.

"I still can't believe there are meant to be elves and dwarves and stuff living here," said Naruto. He peered around as if half expecting legions of said dwarves and elves to jump out and attack him at that very moment.

"Neji, where are we meeting this 'Gandalf'?" asked Sasuke.

"He should be close by," Neji replied. "Unless those special Jounin completely screwed up the jutsu." He activated his Byakugan and searched through the forest around him. He spotted many forest animals, apart from the occasional few, most were harmless and certainly none posed a threat to an ANBU cell. Ignoring the animals, Neji did a 360 degrees check of the surrounding area. He found only one humanoid figure and zoned in on it. It was an elderly man, about a kilometer or so from where they were. So far, he matched the Hokage's description of Gandalf.

"He's a kilometre that way," Neji informed the others. "Let's go."

The four shinobi soundlessly made their way through the forest until they arrived on the branches of a large tree a few metres away from the old man. Close up, Neji saw that he was a tall man looking to be around seventy years old. He seemed to have stopped for a rest and was sitting down on a log.

Knowing better than to just approach him immediately, Neji took the opportunity to study the old man. He had a long grey beard and sported a pointy hat on his head of grey hair. He held a staff in his right hand; Neji couldn't tell if it was meant to be used as a weapon or a walking aid. The old man certainly didn't _look_ to be the dangerous type, though something about him told Neji that there was more to him than meets the eye. He studied the old man with his Byakugan, hoping to gain some more insight to what kind of character their employer was. The old man radiated calm and confidence. In fact, for a man of his age traveling alone in turbulent times, he seemed rather _too_ calm. What's more, Neji could see something similar to chakra pulsing within the man. It was different from a shinobi's chakra system. There were no organized lines of chakra throughout his body and it was a pale green colour instead of the customary blue. Most of it was centered on his hands and staff. So the staff was definitely used as a weapon then. This old man was not as defenseless as he looked.

Neji glanced at Sasuke with a silent question in his eyes. Sasuke nodded in response. So he had noticed too.

To Neji's surprise, the old man suddenly looked directly up at him through the trees Neji had _thought_ gave him cover. He addressed Neji in a language completely unknown to him. How on earth had he detected their presence? Well, there was no use hiding now. Neji motioned for the others to follow him as he landed on the ground in front of their employer.

He knew they must have made an intimidating sight with their battle gear and ANBU masks on. Tsunade had decided that Gaara should wear the uniform as well. They wanted to present a strong and unified image to their potential allies and enemies. But to his credit, the old man didn't look intimidated in the least. He spoke again, smiling at them.

"What?" asked Naruto, frowning. "Great, we don't even understand their language, how are we meant to carry out our mission if we don't know what our employer even wants us to do?"

The old man listened to Naruto and made a noise of understanding. He waved his staff at them and they all tensed, wary of an attack, but the old man made no further moves.

"I'm sorry for not thinking of this before, I had always contacted your Hokage through written letters, and I foolishly did not think that verbal language would be a barrier," he said, this time Neji could understand him perfectly. This was strange, since he was sure that the man was speaking the same language as before.

"You are Gandalf?" asked Neji, and to his surprise, a totally different language came out from his mouth. He looked at his teammates who were in a similar state of surprise. Even with the masks on, Neji knew Naruto enough to tell that the blond's mouth was probably gaping open.

"Yes. I am Gandalf the grey. You are the ninja team I asked for?"

Neji nodded and introduced himself and each of his teammates.

"What are you? What did you just do to us?" asked Sasuke, suspicion lacing his voice.

"I am a wizard. I simply performed a spell to enable you to understand the common tongue of Middle Earth. I'm afraid you will still be in the dark when it comes to individual local dialects, but with this you will be able to communicate to most people here without problems," said Gandalf.

"A wizard?" said Naruto incredulously. "Wow! That is so cool!" Neji was free to roll his eyes under the cover of his mask.

"Is covering your face a necessary procedure?" asked Gandalf.

"Yeah Neji, can't we take these stuffy things off?" asked Naruto. Naruto had never been particularly fond of the ANBU masks, although his easily recognizable spiky blond hair often defeated the purpose of them.

ANBUs wore masks mainly to give them a sense of detachment from their targets. Having dead spirits cursing you in the afterlife is not a comforting thought. It assured the conscience of many ANBU knowing that the ones they kill will never know who it is that killed them. Of course, anonymity is also important, although it would be rather hard to gain the trust of their employer and future allies if they were to continually cover up their faces.

Neji took off the mask and the others soon followed. Naruto gave a sigh and fanned his face while taking exaggerated deep breaths. Neji turned back to Gandalf, the wizard was scrutinizing them closely.

"You are… younger than I expected," he said with a slight frown.

"It is not age that matter, but skill," retorted Sasuke with a scowl. "Would you rather have us send a bunch of talent-less old fools instead?" Neji knew there was no point reprimanding Sasuke for impoliteness towards their employer; Sasuke said what he wanted, always. Neji shared Sasuke's sentiments. People who judged others by appearances annoyed him to no end, his feminine looking appearance almost always made him underestimated.

"I see your point," said Gandalf mildly, he seemed more amused than angry. "Well, the first part of your mission is to accompany me to a council held in Rivendell. Once there we will have a meeting with people of similar interest and then I will decide on your orders."

Neji nodded. "How far away is this Rivendell?" he asked.

"Not far at all. At a moderate walking pace, we'll be there in less than half a day," said Gandalf.

"All right then. Let's go!" said Naruto, enthusiasm rolling off him in waves as he followed Gandalf, a bounce in each step. Neji glanced over at his occasional bedmate and they shared an exasperated look.

**A/N**: That's chapter 3 done, please tell me what you think! Not much happened but I promise there will be more Neji and Sasuke action in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4 A Kiss

**Chapter 4 – A Kiss**

They finally arrived at Rivendell after a torturously long walk. As a shinobi, it seemed all Neji ever did to travel from place to place was either run flat out or leap through trees. With the usual speed shinobi traveled at, the ANBU cell would have arrived at their destination in less than an hour. The slow walking pace Gandalf adopted was making every part of Neji's body twitch restlessly.

Naruto didn't seem to mind at all. With his usual friendly manner, he had hit it off with the wizard immediately and was asking him a thousand questions as they walked. Gandalf seemed to be amused at his curiosity and answered his questions while asking a few in return. Neji, Sasuke and Gaara followed behind the two, listening in to their conversation with mild interest and learning more about this strange new world.

Rivendell was a sight to behold. Its grace and beauty were like nothing Neji had ever seen before. Even Gaara's eyes widened slightly at the beautiful scene that was in front of all of them. Now that they were here in Rivendell, it was hard to believe that a dark threat hung over this world, the entire place practically radiated peace and tranquility.

At the entrance to Rivendell, their party was greeted by what Neji guessed was an elf, if his pointed ears were any indication. He greeted Gandalf a melodious sounding language that Neji didn't understand and stared at the four shinobi with curiosity.

"Welcome to Rivendell my friends," said the elf. "The council will be held early tomorrow morning. For tonight you will stay under Lord Elrond's hospitality. I will show you to your rooms. Dinner will be brought up to your rooms later in the evening."

Limbs tangled and bodies moved and grinded against the other. Sasuke's lips smashed roughly against Neji's in a demanding kiss and he was only too glad to respond. Neji was reminded again of the reason why, out of the many willing candidates, Uchiha was the one he had chosen to occupy his bed. The man was _good_, and he took every opportunity to remind Neji of that fact. Sasuke had the amazing talent of making his mouth and hands feel like they were everywhere at the same time, effectively turning Neji into a moaning and shivering heap beneath him. The other man can be positively sadistic during sex; he touched, licked, bit and kissed at sensitive spots on Neji's body until the white eyed boy was tittering at the edge of ecstasy, before he teasingly backed down again. Neji growled in protest and grabbed at Sasuke. Sasuke however, was having none of that. He pinned both Neji's arms down on the bed, effectively immobilizing the other boy, leaving him quite disgruntled. Neji had occupied the role of the aggressor in most of his other flings and this dominance Sasuke liked to exert over him was taking a while to get used to.

"Beg for me," Sasuke leaned down to whisper in Neji's ear, his voice husky and seductive. "Beg for me to touch you, to take you so hard that you'll scream for me to give you more."

"No," said Neji, defiance flashing through his eyes. "A Hyuuga never begs. I don't _do_ begging."

"Well, I only _do_ people who beg," said Sasuke as he teasingly rubbed himself against Neji. The Hyuuga bit his lips to prevent his treacherous voice from acting on its own accord, his pride the only thing that gave him this self control. Sasuke saw Neji's stubborn resolve shining through his white eyes and chuckled in amusement.

"You're adorable when you're being stubborn, I'll concede this time. But one day Neji, you _will_ beg for me," the dark promise sent shivers down Neji's spine and Neji didn't know if it was in anticipation or in apprehension. All conscious thought was quickly scattered however, as Sasuke resumed his attentions on Neji's body.

When they were finished, Neji rolled out from his position underneath Sasuke before the other man could collapse on top of him. He felt completely sated; there was nothing better than sex to relax a person at the end of a tiring day. He gave a satisfied sigh and snuggled deeper into his pillow while musing sleepily that Rivendell had really nice beds, soft and cushiony with just the right amount of bounce. If Sasuke didn't want to sleep with him tonight, then he would have to move himself because Neji was too comfortable where he was.

Neji laid there for a few minutes, hearing no sound or feel any movement from Sasuke. Had the other man already left? Neji opened his eyes blearily and to his surprise found a pair of dark eyes staring into his. Sasuke was scrutinizing him with his intense dark eyes and Neji found himself shifting uncomfortably under the gaze. Sasuke's eyes were masked and as unreadable as ever. What on earth? If he wanted another round then Neji was happy to comply, just not yet, he wasn't superhuman.

Sasuke reached out and grabbed a hold of Neji's chin. Leaning in, Sasuke brushed his lips onto Neji's and held it there for a few seconds before pulling away. It wasn't passionate lock of lips and tongue like the kisses they always shared. This kiss was, well, _chaste_, for lack of a better word. It was very out of place in a relationship where each used the other for sexual gratification.

Neji fell asleep before his confused mind could ponder Sasuke's strange actions any further.

Neji studied the participants of Lord Elrond's council with interest. There were men, elves and dwarves present, as well as a couple of little people that at most would reach his waist. It made Neji feel a bit better about his height. Not that Neji was short, just not as tall as he would have liked. He found out from the conversation that the little people were called 'hobbits'. One of them, called Frodo, bore an evil ring that apparently had the power to destroy Middle Earth.

He and his teammates were sitting in a secluded part of the council a bit away from everyone else. They had nothing to add to the discussion and so far no one had noticed them. It had been two hours since the meeting started, and from what Neji could understand of their conversations, the council was making very little progress in the way of deciding on a course of action. Tensions between the different races were high, especially between the dwarves and elves, and tempers were reaching their limits. Sure enough, the meeting arrived at its peak and all of a sudden many of the elves, men and dwarves had leapt to their feet and were yelling at each other. Neji tuned out at that point with a mental roll of his eyes. He really wished they would come to a decision so that he and his team would receive some definite orders.

Neji turned to study his teammates. His eyes traveled to each of them in turn. Naruto was watching the fight, eyes wide with fascination. Gaara was as cool as ever, his heavy gourd was placed at his feet and he was leaning casually against a tree trunk. Neji's eyes continued on its course and lingered on Sasuke. Was it him or had Sasuke been intentionally avoiding his eyes all morning? First that weird uncharacteristic kiss from Sasuke last night, and now this. When Neji woke up earlier, he had found himself alone in his bed with the other side unslept in. From that, Neji had thought that Sasuke had returned to his own room last night and things between them had returned to normal. But now, it seemed the other man was ignoring him. Was he mad at Neji? If so, then Neji was totally lost at what he had done to warrant such a reaction.

Neji was shaken from his thoughts at the sounds of the council finally reaching a decision. It seemed that the little hobbit Frodo had volunteered to take the ring to be destroyed in the fires of Mordor. Neji had to give Frodo merit for his bravery, from Boromir's description; Mordor seemed like a very unpleasant place. A Fellowship had volunteered to accompany Frodo on his journey. Making up the Fellowship was Gandalf, an elf named Legolas, Gimli the dwarf and two men named Aragorn and Boromir. Apparently the first man was an important heir of a line of long lost kings, while the other was the eldest son of the ruling steward of Gondor. Last but not least were the four little hobbits, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin.

Before the meeting drew to a close, Gandalf stood up and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"There are also a few more people I would like to add to the Fellowship, if you would agree with my decision. These young men are warriors from a very far away land, but their skills would be invaluable to us in the journey ahead," said Gandalf.

Figuring that it was time, Neji got up from his seat and approached the ring of seats that made up the council. The others followed behind him. The council members studied the four strangely dressed young men with wariness and obvious curiosity. A few of them took second and third looks at Neji's strangely coloured eyes. Neji was so used to this reaction that he barely took notice.

He faced the council members and gave a slight bow. "We are pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Neji Hyuuga and these are my teammates Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village, this Gaara no Sabaku of the Hidden Sand Village," he said, gesturing to each of his team members.

"Gandalf, this dangerous journey is no place for children," one of the elves argued. A murmur of agreement could be heard from the other members of the council.

_Not this again_, Neji thought. _Maybe we should have just kept our masks on._ Obviously this world had a different view on what age young meant. In Konoha, there were no reservations in sending thirteen year old Gennin out on life threatening missions, providing that they were skilled enough.

"We're not children, I'm eighteen!" said Naruto angrily, he looked around at the council and pointed at Legolas. "What about him? He can't be much older than twenty!"

Legolas gave a bemused smile. "I'm over a thousand years old," he said. "Elves are immortal."

Sasuke had to catch Naruto as the blond fell backwards in his surprise. "Stop messing around, dobe," he muttered.

"Age doesn't matter," said Neji. "What matters is that we've got the skills to get the job done."

"Skill or not," said the man named Boromir, getting to his feet. "This is a matter for Middle Earth alone; we, and I speak for Gondor especially, do not need outsiders butting into our business."

"We will leave then," said Gaara shortly. That guy does not beat around the bush, Neji approved.

"Now don't be hasty," said Gandalf hurriedly, he turned to the rest of the council. "I trust these young men, and from what I have heard, they are very skilled and capable warriors. It would benefit us greatly to accept their help."

"We don't need this shit," growled Sasuke impatiently, turning to the old wizard. "We were dragged halfway across the world for this, if our help isn't needed, then let us know now so we can go home."

"Gandalf chose you especially for the purpose of accompanying us. I have completely trust in Gandalf's judgment, so I will gladly accept help from you," said Aragorn.

"It is the same for me," agreed Legolas.

"And me," added Frodo. The other hobbits quickly nodded their agreements along with him.

"Lord Elrond?" said Boromir. "What is your opinion on this matter?"

"I have no objections," said Elrond. "The road before you is a perilous one. You will need all the aid you can get, especially with four vulnerable hobbits in your company."

Boromir, seeing that he was outnumbered, gave a sigh of defeat and sat down. "Well, if that's how all of you feel, then I have nothing further to say." Still, he gave the four shinobi a look that was not devoid of suspicion.

"Then that is settled," said Gandalf with satisfaction. "We will leave first thing tomorrow morning."

**A/N:** I hope you liked it; this was my longest chapter yet. Finally, Neji and co are about to set out! Poor Neji, he may be a genius, but he's totally confused by the suddenly affectionate Sasuke. Well, he'll figure things out eventually. Thanks for reading and please review!


	5. Chapter 5 Protective

**Chapter 5 – Protective **

The Fellowship set out at dawn the next morning at a pace that was moderately fast considering the hobbits' short stature. Neji was still unsure of how his team will be received by the rest of the Fellowship, so he, Sasuke and Gaara were currently walking a small distance away from everyone else.

Naruto, however, had no such reservations. The bubbly blond had bounded up to the hobbits as soon as they set out, and seemed to have already made himself four new friends. Though he wouldn't be caught dead admitting it to Naruto, but Neji found himself kind of envying Naruto's ease at interacting with others. Neji's own personality wasn't the best at making new friends. He had been told by many that he was sometimes too proud, stuffy, arrogant, cold, and the list goes on.

"So, what are you guys exactly? Some kind of foreign warriors?" asked the hobbit named Pippin.

"I guess we are sort of warriors, though where we come from our proper name is shinobi," answered Naruto. "We work missions for our Hokage, which is the strongest shinobi of our village, and also for other employers who put missions forward that requests our help, like Gandalf did."

"In other words, you're just mercenaries willing to work for anyone who pays," scoffed Boromir. "What's to say you won't betray us in an instant for someone willing to pay more for your services?" The hobbits, Gandalf and Naruto were too far ahead of them to hear Boromir's quiet mutter, but the rest of the Fellowship did and the air around them tensed.

"Boromir," said Aragorn, a slight warning in his voice. "We do not want a fight amongst allies, we'll encounter more than enough of that with the many enemies that we will face."

Neji felt Sasuke stiffen in anger beside him at Boromir's blatant insult. Neji turned to see Sasuke with his hand in his weapon's pouch, no doubt intending to show the insolent man his place. Neji placed a hand on the other man's shoulders, hoping to placate the Uchiha's temper and to prevent a fight between the Gondorian and his teammate. _Ignore him_, Neji's eyes silently implored Sasuke. Instead of flaring out further in anger as Neji predicted, Sasuke slowly relaxed under his hand and Neji breathed an inward sigh of relief.

"For you," said Sasuke shortly, turning to face Neji. "But the next time he insults us, he won't know what hit him."

Neji nodded. "I might even be joining you in that," he said, a faint smirk on his lips. Sasuke seemed to be no longer ignoring him, and he was glad. Neji didn't need tensions in the team on such a dangerous mission. Neji had found himself feeling odd all morning with Sasuke giving him the cold shoulder, he had no idea why he was feeling this way, it's not like they were having a lover's quarrel, they were just fuck buddies after all. Still, it was good now that things were back to normal between them.

"We don't need to prove our loyalty to you," said Gaara coldly, he turned his expressionless and icy gaze onto Boromir. The Gondorian paled under Gaara's stare and took an unconscious step backwards. Gaara could be really scary when he wanted to be, heck, Gaara was really scary pretty much all the damn time. He had stabilized a lot since they first met him at the Chuunin Exams, but the redhead was still an unpredictable and powerful force to be reckoned with.

Regaining his composure, Boromir scowled and turned away. Ahead of them, Naruto was continuing to talk to the hobbits. The topic of conversation seemed to have changed considerably and Naruto was again on one of his 'I'm gonna be the Hokage' rants. The hobbits seemed to be earnestly interested in the shinobis' world and were hanging onto every word in fascination. Naruto, in turn, was delighted at the attention and finally finding the opportunity to talk his mouth off to willing listeners.

"…and I'm going to be the strongest Shinobi in the village, then everyone will have to respect me and do as I say!" said Naruto. Neji can practically memorise the whole of Naruto's 'Hokage' speech.

"Dobe, the day you become Hokage will be the day Kakashi arrives on time to a meeting," interrupted Sasuke with a smirk. Naruto, who was used to the playful banter with his old and closest friend to not get offended, smirked back in return.

"Shut up teme!" growled Naruto playfully. "You better watch out. When I'm Hokage, I'm going to give you all the shittiest jobs! How does cleaning toilets sound to you?"

"Sounds about as likely as you becoming Hokage, so I'm not worried."

"Bastard!"

"Tell us more about your team Naruto," cut in Merry before Sasuke could bite back a scathing insult.

"Well, there's not really much to tell. I'm probably the only interesting person on this team," said Naruto. He turned back to Sasuke and stuck his tongue out at the other boy, who scowled in annoyance. "Those three back there are complete sourpusses with no sense of humor, you'll be lucky to get a full sentence out of them. Sasuke's a complete bastard as you've probably already discovered for yourself. Gaara might look scary but he's an awesome guy. Neji's our leader and the brains of the team."

There was an incredulous splutter from Boromir. "That pretty boy is your leader? He looks like he's only good for one thing and it definitely isn't leading," he said condescendingly, a suggestive leer on his face.

Before anyone could react, Boromir was lying face up on the ground. A livid Sasuke was on top of him, a kunai out and pressing hard onto the man's jugular. Boromir looked slightly disorientated and surprise at being decked out so quickly onto the ground. He made to reach for the sword at his side but was stopped by Sasuke pressing the kunai harder onto his neck.

"Listen up you fucker. If you _ever_, say something like that about Neji again, this kunai will be buried so far down your throat that you'll feel it poking around in your ass." Neji could practically hear the venom dripping off Sasuke's voice. Hoping to prevent the situation from escalating further, Neji hurried to Sasuke's side. He placed two skillful fingers on a pressure point on Sasuke's arm, effectively making the other boy drop the kunai harmlessly on the ground.

Sasuke turned to Neji, eyes still stormy. "That bastard is chewing on my last nerve, if he pisses me off again, I can't guarantee his survival." He said it just loud enough for Boromir to overhear.

"I don't need you to stand up for me like I'm some girl," Neji snapped moodily at Sasuke, still pissed at Boromir's 'pretty boy' comment. "I can take care of myself." Neji nearly did the same thing as Sasuke did when he heard Boromir's insult, but being team leader, it was highly inappropriate to indulge in such behavior. Thanks to Hiashi's harsh training, Neji was nothing if not disciplined.

Gandalf and the others up the front seemed to have finally noticed the commotion and were making their way towards them. Neji groaned internally. Great, judging from their employer's stern look, he was probably pissed off at the outbreak of violence. After assuring Gandalf that the situation was resolved and that it would never happen again, Neji hoped anyway, the Fellowship continued on their long trek. The group was tense, and no one was talking much. This left Neji plenty of time to muse on the peculiarity what had just occurred.

Since when had Sasuke become so protective?

**A/N:** And so ends the fifth chapter. It's a tiny bit shorter than the other ones but I felt like this was a good place to end it. The story is progressing slooooowwwly, but I'm kind of focusing on developing Neji and Sasuke's relationship. I love how Neji's so clueless.

Reviewers are the awesomest people on the planet. Tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6 First Night

**Chapter 6 – First Night**

**A/N: **Thanks a lot for people's awesome reviews, it really motivates me. Can't believe I'm nearly at 10000 words! This is definitely the longest story I've written so far.

As dusk approached, the hobbits' weariness was apparent to everyone and it was decided that they would make camp for the night. The Fellowship was still relatively close to Rivendell, so they were quite relaxed and the morale was high. Even the spat between Sasuke and Boromir did not dampen the spirits of the hobbits as they crowded around Sam and the campfire to help prepare that night's dinner. Legolas and Boromir were watching the hobbits' playful bantering with amusement. A little further away from everyone else, Aragorn and Gandalf looked to be having a serious discussion, presumably about future plans for their journey.

Neji, not about to let his guard down so easily, turned to his three team mates.

"We are going to have a quick scout of the surrounding area for possible threats and enemy presence," he said. "I want three kilometre radius coverage in all directions surrounding the campsite. I'll take North, Sasuke East, Naruto South and Gaara West. We'll meet back in fifteen minutes," he said. "All right, let's go." And with that, the four shinobi leap up in four different directions into the foliage of the surrounding trees and disappeared from view of the campsite. Neji could just make out the Fellowship's surprised faces as the shinobi seemingly disappeared in front of their eyes. After a gruelingly slow trek all day, it was a relief being able to move at ninja speed again.

Cheating with his Byakugan, Neji finished his area quickly and was the first to arrive back at the camp. He was greeted by a delicious smell wafting from the camp fire. Sam had finished cooking and was dishing out bowls of stew to everyone. Spotting Neji, Sam beckoned him over.

"Here you go Mr. Hyuuga," said Sam, handing a bowl over to Neji with a smile. "Hope you enjoy it, this stew here's my specialty."

"Thanks," said Neji, returning Sam's smile with a small one of his own. "It smells delicious." The little hobbits' were certainly much more pleasant to get along with than that arrogant Gondorian.

Neji spotted a vacant space on a log near Legolas and Aragorn and went to sit there with his stew. The three looked up from their conversation as he approached and he greeted them with a nod and a smile. That made two smiles in the same number of minutes; it must be a really special day for Neji. Thanks to what happened earlier that day, relationships between Neji's team and the Fellowship were a bit strained. As leader of his team, it was up to Neji to bridge the gap between them. They were going to have to fight alongside each other on the battlefield soon after all. It was always comforting to know that your allies have got your back.

"Any threats?" asked Aragorn as Neji sat down. His tone was friendly.

"None," Neji replied. "I didn't expect to find any but it never hurts to be too careful."

Legolas nodded in agreement. "That's true. However, no orc alive would be so foolish to venture so close to the land of Lord Elrond."

Neji smirked. "That may be true, but one thing I've learnt in all my past experiences is that people's stupidity has no bounds."

Gimli gave a guffaw at that. "I'll be agreeing to that," he said. "Orcs especially are not known for their wits."

As if right on cue, Gaara arrived back at the campsite. The lid to his gourd was off and there was a mass of sand trailing behind him. Neji quickly got up to greet him.

"What did you find?" asked Neji. If Gaara had his sand out, then he must have met with a threat.

Without replying to Neji's question, the sand behind Gaara moved in front of him and released a large, lumpy mass that it had previously held. The lump landed with a thud and Gaara called the sand back to its position around his feet. The thing that was now at Neji's feet was simply one of the most disgusting looking creatures he had ever seen. It was humanoid yet there was no way one could mistake it for a human. Its body was bulky and tall and its skin was a repulsive shade of dark grey. Neji nudged it with his foot and turned the figure over onto its back so he could examine its front. Even in death, the creature's face was twisted into an ugly sneer and Neji could see rows of sharp, rotting yellow teeth inside its grimacing mouth. So this is what an orc looked like. Fighting off hordes of the ugly things was definitely not going to be fun or easy on the eyes.

Gaara's dramatic arrival had caused quite a commotion and the entire Fellowship rushed to gather around the two shinobi and the fallen orc.

"I found it two kilometres away, sniffing out our trail," explained Gaara. "Thought I'd kill it." That was said in a voice so devoid of emotion that it was bordering on creepy.

"Was it alone?" asked Neji. Gaara nodded in reply. "It probably would have been a better idea to keep it alive for information on what it was doing and who sent it."

"I already got all the information I could out of him," said Gaara. "He's a spy for a wizard named Saruman. He was originally part of a group but they were all killed."

"By Rivendell scouts no doubt," said Legolas, a hint of pride in his voice.

"From this point we will have to be constantly on our guard," said Aragorn, a slight frown on his face. Everyone nodded their agreement, the hobbits looked rather apprehensive.

"Sauron and Saruman have spies that can reach every corner of Middle Earth. There is no longer a place that is truly safe. We must remain undetected at all costs," said Gandalf, his voice grave.

"Spies?" scoffed Gaara. "If they're all like this lumbering idiot I killed then we have little to worry about."

"If only that were true," said Legolas. "Their spies come in all shapes and forms; all beasts, birds and men in our paths could be under Saruman's control. I've heard rumors that his magic can even read the wind themselves."

"Well, there's not much we can do against the wind," said Neji, then he smirked. "But anything else this Saruman throws at us, I'll kill." Neji noted that while Pippin was staring at the dead orc with a sort of morbid fascination, he was starting to turn a little green at the gills.

"Can you get rid of that?" he asked Gaara. "Leave it there any longer and it's going to stink up the entire camp."

Gaara's sand surrounded the body and the ground underneath the orc quickly turned into a pit of swirling quicksand. The body soon disappeared and the sand was once again replaced by hard soil. Wordlessly, Gaara turned away from the group and made his way towards the campfire to help himself to some of Sam's stew, his sand disappearing back into his gourd as he walked.

Now that the commotion was over, everyone returned to their previous activities. Naruto and Sasuke returned a few minutes later from their own patrols, both encountering nothing unusual. The evening passed peacefully, and towards the end of it, Neji found himself chatting easily and amicably with Legolas and Aragorn. He got along quite well with the two and was glad that they did not share Boromir's attitude. In fact, after Gaara's little performance earlier in the evening, they were quite curious as to Neji and his teammates' capabilities.

"How is it that Gaara is able to command sand to do his bidding?" asked Legolas. "Is it some type of wizardry?"

"You mean like magic?" asked Neji. "No way, there's no such thing over on our continent. Shinobi have the ability to harness chakra, that's a type of life force if you will, within them and use it in certain ways." At the two's blank look, Neji explained further. "Like Gaara, his chakra is infused with the sand he carries in his gourd and it obeys his every command."

"But in the end sand is just sand," Aragorn said. "It won't be of much use in a battlefield."

Neji smirked; those guys are definitely in for a shock. "Oh, you'll see soon enough. Gaara's sand is stuff that haunts your nightmares. He's awfully creative at using it too."

"So what about the rest of your team?" asked Aragorn. "How do you fight? From the looks of things, we're going to be helping each other out in the battlefield very soon so it'll be useful to be familiar with you battle styles."

"Naruto is a very flashy and obvious fighter. He lacks a bit of finesse but more than makes up for that in power. We often use him as a type of decoy or distraction for sneak attacks. Gaara we use when we need major destruction or defense. Sasuke's pretty much good at everything; he's got the devil's speed and has a mean attack. I specialize in close range combat and reconnaissance. I'm also the team's strategist."

"Giving away all our secrets Neji?" Came a voice from behind Neji, he turned to see Sasuke walking towards them.

"Just having a nice, friendly chat," said Neji. "Join us?" Sasuke squatted down behind where Neji was sitting and wrapped his arms around Neji's shoulder. He trailed butterfly kisses up Neji's neck and Neji shivered.

"I can think of better things that we can do, can't you?" Sasuke whispered huskily in his ear. His tongue trailed around the outer edges of Neji's ear, then nibbled lightly at the lobe. Neji had to bit his lip to stop himself from moaning out loud.

"You two are lovers?" asked Legolas, the surprise evident on his delicate elven features.

Sasuke's arms tightened possessively around Neji. The glare on his face was cold enough to freeze volcanic lava. "You have a problem?" he snapped.

"Oh no not at all," said Legolas quickly. "Same sex couples are becoming more and more common on Middle Earth. I was just surprised since you two didn't act very much like lovers."

_That's because we're not lovers_, Neji thought. _More like friends with benefits._ But he wasn't about to reveal details about his private like to people he had just met. Let them come to their own conclusions.

Neji excused himself to Legolas and Aragorn and walked a little bit away from them so that he could talk to Sasuke. The other man was looking at him with a heated, hungry look that shot excited jolts through Neji's body. It was amazing really; a whole month of sleeping together and Sasuke still had the ability of arousing Neji with just a look. You'd think the novelty of it all would have worn off by now.

Even though he wanted nothing more than to drag the Uchiha into some nearby bushes, Neji knew that he had to keep the mission in mind. So it was with great reluctance that he said, "Now's not the best time Sasuke. We need to be alert at all times for this mission. We can do this when we're in a more secure place."

"Fuck the mission," growled Sasuke as he pulled Neji close to him. "Those lumbering idiots can look after themselves. I want you _now_." A small sigh escaped Neji's mouth as Sasuke's mouth latched itself onto his neck and his hands lowered themselves to Neji's butt. Sasuke was doing a very good job at convincing him. What was the reason why they shouldn't do this again? He couldn't remember. All he wanted now was–

"Hey you guys! What are you doing over there?" Naruto's voice called out from the other side of the campsite. It effectively cut through Neji's haze of lust and he quickly pulled himself away from Sasuke. He was glad that he and Sasuke was a good distance away from the campfire so no one could really see what they were doing. He didn't need people gawking at him.

"Nothing," Neji called back. He gave Sasuke an apologetic look and walked back to where Naruto was sitting with Gaara, Gandalf and the four hobbits.

**A/N:** Urgh, I feel like nothing has happened in this chapter and I had a bit of trouble squishing it out of my brain. Oh well, I think the next chapter will be better. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7 Better Than Sex

**Chapter 7 – Better than Sex**

A couple of weeks had passed since the Fellowship first left Rivendell and, excluding the events of the first night, the group had encountered no more threats on their journey. To his relief, Neji's team was getting along well with the rest of the Fellowship and there were no repeats of the Sasuke and Boromir incident.

During their travels, Neji's team alternated in pairs, a pair scouted the surrounding areas for threats while the other pair walked with the Fellowship as protective guards. At night, the four took turns at guard duty, usually joined by one other member of the Fellowship. Neji didn't know if it was because they were being extra cautious or if Boromir had convinced the others that, if left unchecked, the shinobi would knife everyone in their sleep.

Neji was pretty sure it wasn't the latter. His team had been getting along relatively well with the Fellowship. ANBU teams were famous for their killing skills and not social skills after all.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto had managed to worm his way into everyone's hearts. He was now best of friends with the four hobbits and got along well with everyone else. Gaara kept to himself most of the time though he was occasionally dragged into conversations and activities by the eager Naruto, who had somehow gotten the idea into his head that the redhead was "lonely". Neji read from Gaara's body language that the sand shinobi was more amused than annoyed at Naruto's antics. That was a relief since Neji doubted he could stop Gaara if the other decided to off Naruto. Sasuke's behavior had been quite normal. The Uchiha preferred solitude but on the rare occasion when he desired company, he seeked out either Neji or Naruto, choosing to ignore the rest of the Fellowship.

Things were peaceful; though Neji had the feeling that it wasn't going to last much longer. This feeling was only fueled when a few days later, while taking his turn at scouting, Neji spied something following their trail about a kilometre back with his Byakugan. Focusing in on it, he saw that it was an extremely unpleasant, hobbit sized creature. Its body was stick thin and its head abnormally large and bald. It followed behind them on all fours, muttering to itself and glaring hatefully at their trail. It didn't look to be much of a threat, but then again, neither did Neji.

Later that day, Neji walked up to the old wizard near the front of the group. Gandalf was talking in a low voice to Aragorn and Legolas, but he looked up when Neji approached.

"There's something following us," said Neji. He could tell from Gandalf's reaction that he was already aware of the news and that this was precisely what he had been discussing with the other two before Neji's arrival. It irked Neji slightly that Gandalf hadn't deemed it necessary to talk to him about it when it was his team's job to protect the Fellowship. Were they still not trusted? Well it was probably fair enough, they hadn't yet had a chance to prove themselves in battle.

"Yes, I have been aware of that for a few days now," said Gandalf, his face grave. "I have a suspicion that it is a creature called Gollum, who once possessed and is now also after the ring."

"I've seen him," said Neji. "Is he a really skinny, bald and ugly thing with a sour expression and freakily large eyes?"

"You've seen him?" exclaimed Aragorn, alarmed. "Is he that close to us? How can I not have noticed?"

"He's not that close," replied Neji. "About three kilometres away from us the last time I saw him."

"You can see three kilometres away in such detail?" asked Legolas incredulously. "Even the sharpest elven eyes can only make out the most obvious details at such a distance and even then only in a clear area."

"My eyes are a special bloodline inherited trait. They can see things in extreme detail up to about two kilometres away. I saw that Gollum creature while I was scouting an area a kilometre behind us, he fell just within my range," explained Neji.

"I have always wondered about your eyes," Aragorn mused in amazement. "They are such a remarkable colour; at first I had thought that you were blind."

That was quite a common assumption. If Neji had a dollar ever time people offered to help him cross the street he'd be a millionaire.

Gandalf was smiling. "I see now why your Hokage offered us your team as one of the best in her village. If your teammates also possess such extraordinary powers such as you do, then your team will be a very valuable asset to us in the coming days."

Neji smirked at this. It was about time these guys realised that, he was tired of being underappreciated.

"What is to be done about Gollum?" asked Legolas, reminding them all of the point of the conversation.

"He will not attempt to steal the ring, at least, not yet. There are far too many of us for his cowardly nature to dare reveal himself. If left unchecked, he will continue to follow us, and wait for his chance," Gandalf thought out loud.

"Then I will kill him, or capture him for you," Neji offered.

"No," said Gandalf. "I have a feeling that he will have an important part to play in the events ahead. For good or for ill, of this I cannot be sure. We cannot risk killing him if there is a chance that he will prove useful to us in the future. Let us leave him be for now."

Neji shrugged, this went against what he believed was best but if the wizard could detect Gollum's presence before he did, then maybe his 'feeling' will prove to have some merit. Neji wasn't Naruto; he wasn't a passionate fighter for his beliefs, if Gandalf told him to leave the creature alone, then he will. The old man was his employer after all.

Only two days later, Neji was reconsidering Gandalf's sanity.

Despite the numerous other paths they could have chosen to get closer to their destination, the wizard had instead decided to drag them over Cahadras. Cahadras, Neji will curse that name for as long as he lived, was a ridiculously tall mountain that was plagued by snow and gale that only seemed to worsen the further they climb.

Neji hated the cold. He hated it with a passion. He could stand it and survive in it, Shinobi were trained to survive in the harshest environments after all, but that doesn't mean he had to like it.He loathed the chilling winds that sliced at his uncovered face and hands like knives. The snow had long soaked through the clothes on his body, freezing him to his core. The only one that didn't seem affected by the cold was Legolas. He looked as at ease as if he was taking a nice leisurely stroll through the park on a summer's day. Neji wished he was an elf.

Needless to say, Neji was not in a good mood. Hyuugas didn't sulk, but he was as close to as sulk as a Hyuuga can get.

The snow beneath their feet got thicker as they climbed up the mountain. Neji and his team mates had to do the old trick of focusing chakra onto their feet to prevent themselves from being swallowed up by the metre thick snow. The remaining members of the Fellowship were not so skilled. Aragorn and Boromir had to battle a way through the snow in front to make movement possible for the rest of the group.

Sasuke, seeing the two men's growing weariness, rolled his eyes and jumped down to their level.

"Move back," he snapped shortly at them. "Unless you want to be scorched." They complied with his orders and took a few steps back. Neji, seeing the familiar hand signs and realizing what Sasuke meant to do, eagerly moved towards him.

"_Katon, goukakyu no jutsu_!" The blast of warmth from the fireball warmed Neji from head to toe and he shivered in pleasure. Feeling warm again was nearly as good as sex, though he'd never mention that to Sasuke. The other man would no doubt take that as an insult to his sexual prowess and take insult.

All too soon, the fireball died down, leaving a path of melted snow in its wake. Neji took a second to be amused at the Fellowship's slack jawed awe at Sasuke's most fundamental jutsu. A few seconds late, the cold came back as quickly as it had left and Neji's sour mood soon returned.

They continued like that for a while, with Sasuke occasionally casting fireball jutsu to clear a path for them. But Sasuke's jutsu was made for fighting, not melting snow. Its intensity was strong, but could only clear about a distance of a hundred metres forward each time. Sasuke started to look tired after a few hours and they had only made less than a fifth of the journey over Cahadras.

This was futile. Neji suddenly had the vision of the entire Fellowship bar Legolas frozen to ice cubes on the snow while the elf did a victory dance over their dead bodies. Neji snapped out of his gloomy daydream when he realised he had been directing a heated glare at Legolas, who had noticed and was shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

Great, now he was hallucinating too.

It was a great relief to all of them when Gandalf called for camp at a slightly covered part of the mountains. Using the piece of wood they had each carried from the foot of the mountain, they created a pathetic fire and crowded around it. Neji found a tiny concave in the wall of the mountain that gave him a bit of cover from the biting winds and sat against it. He wrapped his coat tightly around himself and rubbed his numb hands together to try and warm them.

Movement out of the corner of his eye alerted Neji to Sasuke sitting down a little distance beside him. All dignity and Hyuuga pride be damned, Neji made a mad scramble to Sasuke's side and wrapped his arms around the Uchiha. Sasuke was momentarily taken by surprise but quickly recovered and pulled Neji closer to him. It must be all the fire affinity in the Uchiha bloodline because Sasuke's body was so warm! Neji snuggled into Sasuke's chest and gave a small sigh of content.

Now this was _definitely_ better than sex.

**A/N**: Hehehehehe, Sasuke and Neji fuzziness at the end, hope you liked.

Just out of curiosity, do you guys know the LotR story very well? I'm just trying to decide how much detail I need to include explaining the various aspects of Middle Earth, wouldn't want to bore everyone to death.

Next chapter might take a little longer than usual. School's coming up in less than two weeks… sigh… depression. Might actually have to start doing the holiday homework I should have started ages ago.

Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8 Mission Failed?

**Chapter 8 – Mission Failed?**

**A/N:** Sorry for the extremely slow update. School has started and VCE (that's like the Victorian version of the test thingy that you take to get into uni) is just killing me. I am practically up to my scalp in homework…  Anyways, here's the latest chapter, sorry there's not much Neji Sasuke, but the plot needs to go forward.

I might change a little detail here and there in the events of LotR because some parts simply has no relevance and is unimportant, and also because I'm just too lazy :p.

Gandalf, after seeing the futility in their situation, led the Fellowship back down to the foot of the Cahadras once more. The plan now was to pass through Moria, an underground mine, and, according to Gimli, a grand home of the dwarves. Everything about Gandalf's body language revealed very clearly his dread at going into Moria. Neji wondered what the wizard was afraid of but couldn't bring himself to be too worried. Nothing could be worse than the ghastly cold they had just escaped from.

It took them another day to reach the West door of Moria, and by that time, night was already upon them. While Gandalf was trying to figure out the password that would open the door, Neji and the others studied their surrounding environment apprehensively. The night was dark, only a faint sliver of the moon peaked through the dark and ominous clouds. There was a lake near the door, its surface was unnaturally still and Neji felt an overwhelming sense of trepidation when he looked at it. Activating his Byakugan, Neji peered into the depths of the water. His vision was plunged into darkness and for a split second Neji had the panicked thought that he had gone blink, but when he looked up from the lake, his vision returned to normal and he breathed an inward sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?" asked Sasuke, as observant as ever.

"I can't see into the water," said Neji, his voice troubled. "But I get the feeling that there's something down–" He was interrupted by the sound of the heavy stone door opening, seemed like Gandalf figured out how to open the door. "Never mind, let's go." Just as the Fellowship was about to enter through the gates of Moria, they were stopped in their tracks by a most horrifying sight. A monstrous, octopus like tentacle had risen out of the river surface and was crashing towards them. Shouts of alarm were heard as everyone scrambled away from its path; Naruto had to quickly pull Sam away to save the hobbit from being flattened. Neji stared at the water in alarm as more tentacles shot out of its surface.

"Alright! Finally, some action!" Naruto cried out. "Giant squid thingy, here I come!" He took out several shuriken and threw it at one of the tentacles. The shuriken were right on target and imbedded themselves into the tentacle, but the monster seemed to barely even notice its injury. It swiped at Naruto in retaliation, forcing the blond to leap back. Neji did some quick mental calculations of their chances against the giant lake monster. Gaara wouldn't be of much help in this battle. The fight was too close to the water and there was too great a risk of his sand getting wet and being rendered useless. Sasuke's fire nin jutsus wouldn't be of much help either in this situation. Aragorn, Boromir and Gimli had taken to hacking at any tentacles that fell within their reach but they only seemed to succeed in angering the monster further.

Nearby, Sasuke seemed to have some success in scorching a tentacle with his grand fireballs and only succeeded in angering the monster further and filling the air with the putrid stench of burnt flesh. Neji dodged attack after attack from the monster while scanning it with his Byakugan in the hopes of finding a weak spot. He was interrupted by a shrill shriek from Frodo, who had been grasped by one of the tentacles and was now being waved around like a rag doll ten metres in the air. Thinking fast, Neji threw an explosive tag, a heavy chunk was blasted off one of its limbs and the creature dropped Frodo with a moan of pain, who was caught and saved from a potentially fatal landing by Naruto. Instead of dissuading the creature, Neji's attack seemed only to infuriate it even further. The Fellowship had no choice but to escape into Moria, where their way of exit was promptly destroyed and blocked by a few slabs of heavy stone the monster threw at them as a last attack.

Despite now being trapped in a dark and ominous underground mine; Neji couldn't help but give a sigh of relief. Nothing could be worse than those murderous slimy tentacles, right?

Wrong.

A few hours later, Neji was humbly stood corrected. After being chased through the underground caverns by what seemed like an army of orcs and other nasty creatures, the disgusting things have suddenly turned tail and fled.

Neji knew from experience that this wasn't a good sign. Little evil nasties running away usually meant bigger nasties were coming. He probed past the surrounding cave walls with his Byakugan. A few seconds later, Neji let out a most uncharacteristic yelp. Stumbling backwards and tripping over a most inconveniently placed rock, only Sasuke's quick reaction saved him from a rough landing. Neji had no time to enjoy the feeling of Sasuke's arms around him.

Turning to the others, he yelled, "Run! Something's big is coming this way and it's got a whip. Believe me; we do not want to be caught by it."

"Shit," said Naruto, his face alarmed. "We'd better do what he says, if this something freaked Neji out like that then it's definitely nothing good."

"A Balrog," said Legolas, his face paling. "Demons of the ancient times, masters of fire and shadow and more menacing than the evil dragons of old. No skill of ours could possibly hope to match it, save perhaps Gandalf's magic."

After a quick confirmation from Gandalf, The Fellowship turned tail and ran, following the old wizard's directions. Soon they came to an ominous looking bridge, a tiny strip of a thing above a menacing bottomless pit. As they were about halfway over, a fell howl pierced the air and chilled the blood in their veins, freezing them in their tracks. Neji knew without looking that it had been the creature he had seen earlier. Turning around confirmed it, a terrifying vision of fire and death, the gigantic monster was something that he couldn't even have dreamt of in his worst nightmares. Nothing in the shinobi's training had prepared him for something like this, and for once the Hyuuga prodigy was at a loss as to how to defeat the opponent at hand.

"GET BACK! Continue across the bridge!" commanded Gandalf, turning to face the monster and planting down his feet firmly. Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara scooped up a hobbit each and they dashed across to the other side, quickly followed by Legolas, Gimli and Boromir. Aragorn looked reluctant to leave Gandalf to face the monster by himself and lingered behind.

"Aragorn!" Legolas called. "Come! There is nothing any of us can do." Aragorn joined the rest of the Fellowship hesitantly at the end of the bridge. Together they watched the intense battle between Gandalf and the Balrog. Gandalf's wizardry was barely enough to hold off the creature's advance. The Balrog's fiery attacks made Sasuke's fire ninjutsu seem like child's play in comparison.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" shouted Gandalf finally, breaking off half of the bridge with his staff, sending the creature tumbling into the abyss. The Fellowship breathed a sigh of relief and Gandalf turned to them with a tired but triumphant smile. But before he could take another step forwards, the Balrog's whip lashed out from deep pit and pulled Gandalf in with it.

"Shit," said Naruto, his voice shaky. "We managed to let our employer get killed; Granny Tsunade is so going to let us have it when we get back."

And there it is. Pretty crappy and nowhere near worth all the wait. Hopefully I can update sooner next time. 

Thanks for reading.


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